Kohli praises the longest form of cricket

Virat Kohli always had a penchant for Test cricket and has showed his love towards the five-day format of the game. He again stressed on the importance of the format entitling it "the most beautiful format of the game".

Kohli is currently ranked No.1 in the ICC Test ranking for batsmen with 937 points as he scored 200 runs in the 3rd Test against England in Trent Bridge. He scored 97 in the first innings and 103 runs in the second claiming the man of the match award.

The 29-year-old's match winning performance helped India to keep their hopes alive in the five-match series by winning the 3rd Test by 203 runs making the series score 2-1. The Indian captain is followed by Steve Smith of Australia in the ICC Test rankings.

Kohli has been constantly working hard to excel in the longer format of the game. The format is the favorite of the Indian captain as he said: "It's the most beautiful format of the game. I don't think it's going anywhere. I don't see it getting compressed to four days. It should not be tinkered with."

In an interview with the Wisden Cricket Monthly Kohli condemned the England Cricket Board's new 100-ball format as it doesn't appeal to him and he cannot think of any other new format in the game of cricket. "I don't want to be a testing sort of a cricketer for any new format. I don't want to be someone who's going to be the part of that World XI who comes and launches the 100-ball format."

Kohli feels that first-class cricket should be promoted so that the longer format of the game is alive. He said: "If you're not going to give more importance to first-class cricket, then people are going to lose motivation to play the longest format of the game. With the coming of T20 format, the cricket boards across the world to treat the first-class cricket well. Because, if facilities and standards gets high then it will help players to be motivated."

Kohli praises the initiative of Test Championship as it will boost the players and the format. "I think the Test Championship is going to give a huge push to Test Cricket," he stated. Test cricket gives him the 'job satisfaction' as he added, "I cannot explain to you the job satisfaction that you get when you do well in Test cricket, because you know how demanding the format is."